Miami Beach's 'Rock Doc' pleads guilty to painkiller scheme

BY JAY WEAVER, jweaver@MiamiHerald.com

A Miami-Dade physician whose patients called him the "Rock Doc" because of his spiked blond hair pleaded guilty Tuesday to bilking millions of dollars from Medicare and to prescribing unlawful painkillers such as Oxycodone.

Christopher Gregory Wayne, a 53-year-old osteopathic physician who lived in Miami Beach before his arrest in September, was ordered to pay more than $2 million and turn over his Pine Tree Drive home and 2002 Mercedes-Benz to the U.S. government as part if his plea agreement.

Wayne, now wearing his once punk-style hairdo straight back in a ponytail, agreed to plead guilty to defrauding the taxpayer-funded Medicare program and the new conspiracy charge for writing unlawful painkiller prescriptions to resolve all of his legal problems with the government.

Wayne faces about five years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines before U.S. District Judge Robert Scola on May 16.

"We're very satisfied with this result," Wayne's attorney, Michael Grieco said after the plea hearing, noting the ever-escalating punishment for Medicare offenders. "My client is happy to put this behind him."

According to his plea agreement, Wayne billed Medicare for physical therapy services at his Miami clinic that were not provided or needed in 2007-2009.

He also sold the large amounts of Oxycodone to a confidential law enforcement source and an under police officer at a Fort Lauderdale clinic in 2011, according to prosecutors Eric Morales and Brent Tantillo.

The case was investigated by Federal agents with Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General and Drug Enforcement Administration